African swine fever (ASF) has been found in domestic pigs in Italy for the first time, delivering a major blow to the country’s pork sector.
Two cases were detected on a farm in Rome’s Lazio region last week. The infected pigs were culled immediately, along with seven others on the farm, as veterinary authorities prepare to slaughter all pigs within a 10-km radius of the site, an estimated 1,000 animals, according to Wanted in Rome.
The virus was discovered in wild boar in Rome in May, having jumped around 500km from an initial outbreak of ASF in wild boar in north-west Italy at the start of the year. Angelo Ferrari, the government’s special commissioner in charge of tackling ASF, has also ordered the culling of ‘at least’ 400 wild boar in the Lazio region, state broadcaster RAI reported.
But the discovery of ASF on a pig farm in Lazio, prompting the cull of 1,000 pigs locally to stem the spread, opens up a new problem.
Italy is the seventh biggest pork producer in the EU and its farming groups have described the transfer of ASF from wild boar to domestic pigs as a ‘disaster that was waiting to happen’, amid growing concerns for the €8bn sector, which employs around 50,000 people.
The main agricultural association Coldiretti called on the government last month for the ‘rapid culling’ of wild boars throughout the country to help stop the spread of the disease.